Per…what?? Yes, perogies. There are about 15 different spellings of this word and it just depends on what country you are from. They basically are a dough/dumpling filled with potatoes, onions, cheese, and seasonings. Usually they are boiled and served with sautéed with onions and sour cream on the side. I first tasted home-made perogies while visiting friends in Saskatchewan a few years back. They were very good especially since I had only tasted store-bought ones once which you shouldn’t even compare to the real home-made ones! :)
Many of the small Saskatchewan towns have a strong Ukrainian influence-the people, accents, churches, cooking, etc. If a conversation comes around to cooking, you can almost guarantee that perogies and sauerkraut will be discussed at some point. Recently I was served perogies when having dinner at a neighbour’s. I asked for the recipe and not long after she stopped by with the recipe and a bag of frozen perogies! Just last week I finally got around to making perogies which gave me two things: a sense of accomplishment and that I am on track to becoming a real Saskatchewanite. :) Now for the sauerkraut…well, let’s just stick to perogies for the time being. :)
Perogie Dough:
10 C flour
1 T salt
¼ t baking powder
1 C lard
3 C warm water
1 egg, beaten
In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients; cut in lard. Add in water and egg. Mix all together to form dough.
Roll out dough to about an 1/8” thickness. Cut out circles 3” in diameter. My drinking glass rims were too small so I used my ½ C measuring cup. Place about 1 T of filling (recipe below) on center of dough, fold over, and pinch edges.
Note #1: The original recipe called for 4 C of water but I started with 3 and only ended up needing a little more than that.
Note #2: If you want to make the dough ahead of time it will keep in the fridge for a couple days. Just wrap dough in saran wrap so it doesn’t dry out
Filling:
Potatoes
Cheese
Onion
Garlic
Boil about 7 or 8 med-large potatoes. Mash with butter, milk, salt and pepper. Add grated or small chunks of cheddar cheese while potato mixture is still warm so it will melt.
Caramelize or sauté onions and garlic. I used 3 large onions and 4 cloves of garlic and thought at the start I had taken the “tons of onions” recommendation from friends too seriously. The amount seemed a little excessive but after tasting one from the first cooked batch had I knew I had used the right amount. :)
For more flavour you can also add bacon bits, chives, dill, or parsley to the filling.
I place the perogies on a cookie rack set inside a cookie sheet and freeze them. This will keep them from sticking to each other when you bag them. Perogies freeze very well so, while this recipe makes a big batch of dough, it is great to make several dozen at once rather than having to make smaller batches more often.
Cooking Instructions:
Place frozen perogies in boiling water. Perogies will float when they are done (about 6-8 min.) You can add them to additionally sautéed onions with sour creams served on the side, if desired.
If you try this recipe I’d love to hear your results and opinions! :)
